Iranians celebrate, Obama hails 'historic' nuclear framework

Barrack Obama Latest

Iranians celebrated in the streets after negotiators reached a framework for a nuclear deal that could bring their country in from the cold, hailed by U.S. President BarackObama as an "historic understanding" with an old adversary.

The tentative agreement, struck on Thursday after eight days of talks in Switzerland, clears the way for negotiations on a settlement aimed at allaying Western fears that Iran was seeking to build an atomic bomb and in return lift economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

It marks the most significant step toward rapprochement between Iran and the United States since they became enemies with the 1979 Iranian revolution. But the deal still requires experts to work out difficult details over three months.

Obama and Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, who both took risks to open the dialogue, will each have to sell the deal to skeptical conservatives at home.

With many details still up in the air, France cautioned on Friday against overoptimism. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has the ear of U.S. opposition Republicans, fumed against an arrangement he said could lead to nuclear proliferation and war in the Middle East.

"We are not completely at the end of the road and the end of the road should be in June,” said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. "Nothing is signed until everything is signed, but things are going in the right direction," he told French radio station Europe 1.

The framework is contingent on settling the 12-year dispute by June 30. All sanctions onIran remain in place until a final settlement.

Celebrations erupted in the Iranian capital after the deal was reached. Videos and pictures posted on social media showed cars in Tehran honking horns as passengers clapped. In one video posted on Facebook, a group of women can be heard clapping and chanting "Thank you, Rouhani."

RELATED COVERAGE

• › Billions up for grabs if nuclear deal opens Iran economy
• › Israeli security cabinet united in opposition to Iran deal: statement
• › Iran's Khamenei lent cautious support to pursuing a nuclear deal
• › Tehran Friday prayer leader gives blessing to nuclear deal

Among the six powers, France has taken a consistently tough line with Tehran. Fabius said Iran's economy stood to gain $150 billion in relief from the sanctions.

"You will have seen that there was a lot of positive reaction in the streets in Iran, and I think it’s real, not fabricated. The Iranians, the people, the youth are expecting something and that should be noted,” he said.

Obama described the agreement as a "historic understanding with Iran". He compared it to nuclear arms control deals struck by his predecessors with the Soviet Union that "made our world safer" during the Cold War. He also cautioned, however, that "success is not guaranteed."

Netanyahu was to convene his security cabinet on Friday after telling Obama in a phone call that he "vehemently opposed" the agreement. In a statement released after the conversation, Netanyahu said a deal based on the framework announced in Lausanne "would threaten the survival of Israel".

"This deal would legitimize Iran's nuclear program, bolster Iran's economy and increase Iran's aggression and terror throughout the Middle East and beyond," he said. "It would increase the risks of nuclear proliferation in the region and the risks of a horrific war."

Israel is believed to be the only Middle Eastern country that has nuclear weapons.

Many details still need to be worked out. Diplomats close to the negotiations said the deal was fragile and the understandings reached could still collapse between now and June 30. Experts believe it will be much harder to reach a final deal than it was to agree the framework accord.

The deal is also opposed by Sunni Arab states which consider Iran, the leading Shi'ite Muslim country, to be a threat.

Under the outline deal, Iran would shut more than two-thirds of its installed centrifuges capable of producing uranium that could be used to build a bomb, dismantle a reactor that could produce plutonium and accept intrusive verification.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday there was a "very good" chance of a final settlement.

IRANIAN CAUTION

The framework includes limits on Iran's enrichment of uranium for 10 years.

Iran agreed to reduce the number of installed uranium enrichment centrifuges to 6,104 from 19,000, and will operate only 5,060 for 10 years, according to a U.S. fact sheet.

One of the most sensitive issues during the negotiations, Iran's research and development work, will also be limited.

"Iran has agreed to not conduct research and development associated with uranium enrichment at Fordow for 15 years," the U.S. fact sheet said. It also noted Iran will remove the 1,000 more advanced second-generation centrifuges currently installed at Natanz and place them in International Atomic Energy Agency-monitored storage for 10 years.

High enriched uranium can be used to make a weapon, while low enriched uranium is used in power plants. Iran has insisted it wants it only for a peaceful nuclear energy program and denies it aimed to build an atomic bomb.

Iran's "breakout" timeline – the time that it would take for it acquire enough fissile material for one weapon - would be extended to at least one year, for a duration of at least 10 years, under this framework. It is currently assessed to be two to three months, the U.S. fact sheet said.

Iran would gradually receive relief from U.S. and European Union economic sanctions if it complies with the terms of a final deal. Some U.N. Security Council sanctions would be gradually lifted, though others would remain in place.

"We're still some time away from reaching where we want to be," said Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Failure to comply with terms of the deal will cause the U.S. and EU sanctions to "snap back into place", the U.S. fact sheet said. It was less specific on U.N. sanctions, one of the main sticking points in the negotiations, saying only that they could be reimposed in the event of Iranian non-compliance.

Source Reuters

KFC's parent company is going for Chick-fil-A's throat

KFC and Taco Bell parent company Yum Brands appears to have plans in the works to chip away at Chick-fil-A’s dominance in the U.S.

Yum! has been slowly opening a new franchise called Super Chix, that sells chicken sandwiches, fries and custard, a clear shot at Chick-fil-A’s own offerings. Super Chix is opening a second location in Texas this month after its first store opened this year, Business Insider reports.

Here are some of the glowing reviews for Super Chix’s first location, as collected by Business Insider:

The last original chicken sandwich’ is their slogan. I can clearly see why after I finished lunch there this afternoon. The quality is phenomenal and at a more than decent price!”

© Creative Commons - Flickr user 'm01229

I love how fresh the food is; the food is refreshing in a way most fast food isn’t. You don’t leave and feel worse after eating at Super Chix; you leave and then wish you had another serving of Super Chix.

But not all appear to be totally enthused by the chain’s offerings. One person, Erin O. of Plano, Texas, gave the chicken joint a one-star rating and an unsavory account of the food. “The chicken in the chicken strips was oddly textured, like there was a lot of tendons in it? Urk. And the breading was oddly sweet. I totally get the references to chick-fil-a now… it’s similar yet different, and not quite in a good way,” she wrote.

In 2012, Chick-fil-A overtook KFC as top chicken chain, according to CNBC. Yum! Brands posted earnings in February that failed to meet analysts’ expectations. The company reported earnings of 61 cents per share, while analysts expected 66 cents per share. But Taco Bell saw 6% same-restaurant sales growth, which beat analyst expectations of 3.6%.

Source Fortune

Edward Snowden speaks why he is not a spy of Russia?

Edward Snowden speaks:

Edward Snowden:Good question, thanks for asking.
The answer is "of course not." You'll notice in all of these articles, the assertions ultimately come down to speculation and suspicion. None of them claim to have any actual proof, they're just so damned sure I'm a russian spy that it must be true.
And I get that. I really do. I mean come on - I used to teach "cyber counterintelligence" (their term) at DIA.
But when you look at in aggregate, what sense does that make? If I were a russian spy, why go to Hong Kong? It's would have been an unacceptable risk. And further - why give any information to journalists at all, for that matter, much less so much and of such importance? Any intelligence value it would have to the russians would be immediately compromised.
If I were a spy for the russians, why the hell was I trapped in any airport for a month? I would have gotten a parade and a medal instead.
The reality is I spent so long in that damn airport because I wouldn't play ball and nobody knew what to do with me. I refused to cooperate with Russian intelligence in any way (see my testimony to EU Parliament on this one if you're interested), and that hasn't changed.
At this point, I think the reason I get away with it is because of my public profile. What can they really do to me? If I show up with broken fingers, everybody will know what happened.

Edward Snowden replied to a question asked by max_fisher in reddit

The question was: [–]max_fisher 1801 points 29 days ago 

For Edward Snowden:

Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov has described your daily life as circumscribed by Russian state security services, which he said control the circumstances of your life there. Is this accurate? What are your interactions with Russian state security like? With Russian government representatives generally?

Mystery solved? Alone at controls, co-pilot sought to 'destroy' the plane

The co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings jet barricaded himself in the cockpit and "intentionally" sent the plane full speed into a mountain in the French Alps, ignoring the pilot's frantic pounding on the door and the screams of terror from passengers, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz's "intention (was) to destroy this plane," Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said, laying out the horrifying conclusions reached by French aviation investigators after listening to the last minutes of Tuesday's Flight 9525.

The Airbus A320 was flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf when it began to descend from cruising altitude of 38,000 feet after losing radio contact with air traffic controllers. All 150 on board died when the plane slammed into the mountain.

Robin said the pilot, who has not been identified, left the cockpit, presumably to go to the lavatory, and then was unable to regain access. In the meantime, Lubitz, a 28-year-old German, manually set the plane on the descent that drove it into the mountain.

Robin said the commander of the plane knocked several times "without response." He said the door could only be blocked manually.

"The most plausible, the most probably, is that the co-pilot voluntarily refused to open the door of the cockpit for the captain and pressed the button for the descent," Robin said.

He said the co-pilot's responses, initially courteous in the first part of the trip, became "curt" when the captain began the mid-flight briefing on the planned landing.

The information was pulled from the black box cockpit voice recorder, but Robin said the co-pilot said nothing from the moment the commanding pilot left.

"It was absolute silence in the cockpit," he said.

During the final minutes of the flight's descent, pounding could be heard on the cockpit door as plane alarms sounded but the co-pilot's breathing was normal the whole time, Robin said.

"It's obvious this co-pilot took advantage of the commander's absence. Could he have known he would leave? It is too early to say," he said.

He said Lubitz had never been flagged as a terrorist and would not give details on his religion or ethnic background. German authorities were taking charge of the investigation into the co-pilot.

Robin said just before the plane hit the mountain, the sounds of passengers screaming could be heard on the audio.

"I think the victims realized just at the last moment," he said.

The A320 is designed with safeguards to allow emergency entry if a pilot inside is unresponsive, but the override code known to the crew does not go into effect — and indeed goes into a lockdown — if the person inside the cockpit specifically denies entry, according to an Airbus training video and a pilot who has six years of experience with the jets.

Airlines in Europe are not required to have two people in the cockpit at all times, unlike the standard U.S. operating procedure after the 9/11 attacks changed to require a flight attendant to take the spot of a briefly departing pilot.

In the German town of Montabaur, acquaintances told The Associated Press that Lubitz appeared normal and happy when they saw him last fall as he renewed his glider pilot's license.

"He was happy he had the job with Germanwings and he was doing well," said a member of the glider club, Peter Ruecker, who watched Lubitz learn to fly. "He gave off a good feeling."

News of how investigators thought the plane crashed shocked the families, the airlines and everyone who heard the chilling, blow-by-blow description from the prosecutor. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said the airline was already "appalled" by what happened.

"I could not have imagined that becoming even worse," Spohr said in Cologne. "We choose our cockpit staff very, very carefully."

The families of victims were briefed about the conclusions just ahead of the announcement.

"The victims deserve explanations from the prosecutor," Robin said. "(But) they have having a hard time believing it."

Robin said the second black box still had not been found but remains of victims and DNA identification have begun, he said.

Lubitz had obtained his glider pilot's license as a teenager, and was accepted as a Lufthansa pilot trainee after finishing a tough German college preparatory school, Ruecker said. He described Lubitz as a "rather quiet" but friendly young man.

Lubitz' recently deleted Facebook page appeared to show a smiling man in a dark brown jacket posing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in California. The page was wiped sometime in the past two days.

Lufthansa said Lubitz joined Germanwings in September 2013, directly out of flight school, and had flown 630 hours. The captain had more than 6,000 hours of flying time and been a Germanwings pilot since May 2014, having previously flown for Lufthansa and Condor.

The circumstances of the crash are likely to raise questions anew about the possibility of suicidal pilots.

In the 1999 crash of an EgyptAir jet off Nantucket that killed all 217 people on board, U.S. investigators found the co-pilot intentionally caused the plane to go down despite the pilot's efforts to regain control. Egyptian officials rejected the findings, saying the crash may have been caused by a mechanical failure.

___Source Paris Associated Press

A billionaire with his own private army is fighting the government in Ukraine

Igor Kolomoisky

Igor Kolomoisky was once called Ukraine's "secret weapon" as the 52-year-old billionaire raised his own private army to fight off separatist forces attempting to capture the country's third-largest city. Now the government in Kiev faces a dangerous stand-off with one of its most important allies.

The banking magnate was sacked by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday.

In March last year Kolomoisky, who founded Ukraine's largest commercial bank Privat Bank, had been appointed governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, a predominantly Russian-speaking region in the east of the country.

After the collapse of President Viktor Yanukovych's government led to neighbouring regions of Donetsk and Luhansk declaring their independence from Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast became a flash point: the government became desperate to halt the rebel advance there and the separatists became equally intent on reestablishing it as part of what Vladimir Putin termed Novorossiya, or New Russia.

With the situation descending into war the region found itself exposed and the new government in Kiev was ill-equipped to offer it either the financial or military resources required to hold off the Moscow-backed separatists. So the job fell to Kolomoisky. Or rather Kolomoisky took it, with Kiev's grateful acceptance.

At a cost of around $10 million a month, according to the Wall Street Journal, Kolomoisky began to build up his army. By June last year the so-called Dnipro Batallion consisted of 2,000 heavily-armed troops, with a further 2,000 in reserve under the command of Kolomoisky's close ally and self-described "conflict manager" Gennady Korban.

Although a businessman, Korban was no stranger to life and death situations having survived an assassination attempt in March 2006 when his car was shot at my machine-gun wielding attackers. Both men are known for their aggressive business methods, although they claimed that in other countries their actions would simply be dubbed as "mergers and acquisitions".

Having managed to keep Dnipropetrovsk in government hands despite fierce fighting, the appointment appeared to have been a success. That, however, was thrown into doubt last week when armed men in masks stormed the headquarters of state-owned oil company UkrTransNafta in the Ukrainian capital Kiev following the sacking of its director Oleksander Lazorko, a key ally of Kolomoisky.

Two deputies in the Ukraine parliament accused Kolomoisky of sending in the armed men, and the billionaire himself later emerged from the building and began arguing with members of the press who had camped outside.

Although the building was back under government control by the weekend, the fact that this was allowed to happen in Kiev is a source of major embarrassment for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's administration. It also comes at an extremely sensitive time as it begins the process of undertaking widespread economic reforms in exchange for a bailout package estimated to total £26.9 billion ($40 billion).

Poroshenko was urged by members of parliament to "put [Kolomoisky] in his place" and indeed he has subsequently told soldiers in the capital that "we will not have any governor with their own pocket army". Yet there are concerns that the government is heading for an ill-advised stand-off with one of its wealthiest and most strategically important allies.

The question that nobody seems quite sure of is what happens now.

Despite owning only 42% of UkrTransNafta, Kolomoisky became accustomed to the de facto running of its business operations. However, as the Financial Times reported, a new law passed by parliament effectively gave back control of the company to the state, which owns 50% plus one share. The new law lowers the numbers of shareholders required to be present for a vote at a meeting, a move that is widely seen as damaging to the interests of Kolomoisky's Privat Group.

In interviews on Ukrainian TV, supporters of Kolomoisky accused the president of launching a politically motivated attack on him. Meanwhile, the governor called for past privatisation of state assets to be reviewed in a move that is likely to anger his fellow oligarchs and one that could be interpreted as a challenge to the state.

The idea of a standoff between powerful factions within the Ukrainian state — especially those with their own private armies — will hardly reassure international backers who are being asked to stump up additional funds for the beleaguered country. Yet imposing state control over its portfolio of assets is also likely to be key if it is to implement the economic reforms demanded by the IMF.

Already there are signs that Kiev is willing to compromise, with Kolomoisky announcing that the new company chairman would not be carrying out any investigations of its finances. That, however, may simply be a temporary lull in a spat that threatens to pit powerful business interests against the reform agenda of the government.

Source Business Insider

Bald first lady? Michelle Obama’s 'Jeopardy!' appearance raises questions

An appearance by Michelle Obama on “Jeopardy!” had fans on Twitter scratching their heads, wondering whether Michelle Obama was sporting a new, hairless look on hers.

The first lady popped up on the long-running quiz show on Tuesday to promote her “Let’s Move!” anti-childhood obesity initiative.

In one clue, FLOTUS talked about rinsing canned vegetables to reduce sodium and how much Vitamin A could be found in sweet potatoes. But what many on social media up in arms appeared to not be nutrition, but an apparent lack of follicles.

March is #NationalNutritionMonth@Jeopardy & @MichelleObama partnered to promote@MyPlate & #healthyeatingpic.twitter.com/5D3PKQ7wOv

— Foodlink (@FoodlinkNY) March 24, 2015

why does Michelle Obama look bald on #jeopardy?

— chelsea 卌 (@closch3) March 24, 2015

That moment when you think you see Michelle Obama bald on Jeopardy, and go to twitter to find the answer.

— Noelle Richard (@NoelleRichard) March 24, 2015

My dad just said Michelle Obama is bald because she doesn't eat

— Katie (@k___watson) March 24, 2015

Obama had also delivered a “Jeopardy!” clue in 2012. The White House and “Jeopardy!” reps didn’t return ITK’s request for more information about the latest appearance.

But ITK is surmising this mane mystery is more a case of a quirky camera angle and lighting than Obama opting to be the first first lady to debut a chrome dome.

The White House provided additional information on Obama's "Jeopardy!" segment, but didn't respond to a question about the "bald" buzz.

Source The Hill

Government advises Indians to leave Yemen, after rebels capture southern Seaport Of Aden

The Government of India today issued an advisory asking Indian nationals in Yemen to leave the country in view of the continuing fragile situation there. Of about 3500 Indian nationals in Yemen, nearly 2500 are living in capital Sana'a. "The security situation in Yemen is fragile with high possibility of major conflict and disturbances," Syed Akbaruddin, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson.

Most Indians are employed as nurses in the country, where Houthi Shiite rebels have captured the presidential palace and allegedly forced President Hadi to leave the country. The situation in Yemen remains murky, with Houthi militants claiming capture of in the southern seaport of Aden.

This is a third such advisory of the year.

The government has reiterated its previous advisories of January 21 and March 19, which says, "Indian nationals in Yemen may consider leaving the country on voluntary basis by commercial means, if it is safe to do so."

For those Indians who do not have travel documents or need other consular services, special assistance will be provided at the Indian Embassy in Sana'a. The Indian embassy in Sana'a has set up helplines which can be accessed for information or assistance -- 00-967-734 000 658 and 00-967-734 000 657.

Indian nationals in Yemen have been advised to avoid conflict areas and remain in contact with the embassy officials for advice and updated information on the evolving security situation.

Source NDTV

Atal Bihari Vajpayee to get Bharat Ratna on March 27

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will receive Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour in the country, on March 27, 2015.

Going against the protocol, President Pranab Mukherjee will visit the ailing 90-year-old veteran BJP leader and confer the award.

Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee:

In December last year the Central government has announced the prestigious award for the Vajpayee and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malaviya.

Kin of Madan Mohan Malviya will receive the award on March 31, 2015.

Instituted on January 2, 1954, the Bharat Ratna award has been bestowed on 45 individuals so far including 11 who were awarded posthumously.

The award was originally limited to achievements in the field of arts, literature, science and public services but in 2011 the criteria was expanded to accommodate any field of human endeavour. \

Source India Today

16 Awesome Police Cars from around the world

PORSCHE 911  The 911 can hit 62mph in less than five seconds, although the NSW Police force says that this car will mostly be used to attend community events where "the fascination of a Porsche in police decals is helping to break the ice especially with youths in disadvantaged areas".

PORSCHE 911

Catching criminals is no easy task, but having a fast car can help and the New South Wales (NSW) Police Force in Australia has just revealed just that, in the shape of this stunning Porsche 911.

Complete with bespoke livery and flashing lights this is a 911 like no other and any criminal is likely to think twice before trying to out-run it. It's the latest in a long line of police cars that are designed to be as eye-catching as they are capable...

DODGE CHARGER PURSUIT

This is the Dodge Charger Pursuit , a seriously mean-looking machine that became available to US police forces earlier this year.

LAMBORGHINI HURACAN

The Italians are known for their flair and style, and it seems that extends to the country’s police force, too.

Even before many customer orders were fulfilled, the Italian State Police took delivery of its brand new 610hp, 202mph-plus, 5.2-litre V10-engined Lamborghini Huracan police car in spring 2014. Now you’re going to need an Aventador to get away from them... 

Chevrolet Tahoe
Named after a Californian lake, the Chevrolet Tahoe is the perfect US cop car. A bull bar ensures chases are over before you can say "stay in the car, sonny", and its go-anywhere ability means offenders aren't getting away even if they take a detour through the desert. It looks menacing, too, and there's a couple of spotlights to help catch suspects in dark alleys.

GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE PRIDE HYUNDAI I30

Renault RS MEGANE ----PARIS

BMW 4 SERIES GERMANY

Ferrari FF ---Dubai

Lamborgini Aventador - --Dubai

Mercedes E Class ---Stuggart germany

Ferrari 612 SCAGLIETTI-----ENGLAND

Ariel Atom ----England

Lotus Evora ---- England

Caparo T1

McLaren 12 CSpider

Kunjannam, India’s Oldest Woman, Dies at 112

Thrissur: Kunjannam, 112, the oldest woman in the country, died at a private hospital here on Tuesday after a brief illness.

She was recently recognised by Limca Book of World Records as the oldest living person in the country. She was suffering from age-related ailments for quite some time. The Limca Book of World Records recognised her as the oldest living spinster in the country and the certificate for the credit was handed over to her just five months ago.

She bade goodbye to worldly life when her family members were in touch with the Guinness Book of Records authorities to confer the recognition of the second living senior-most spinster in the world on her. She had also been waiting for a reply from the Book of World Record and Limca Book of Records authorities after writing to them to enter her name into the books as the oldest grandmother in the world, on the International Day of Older Persons on October 1.

Kunjannam was born on May 05, 1903, according to her baptism certificate and documentary evidence issued by the vicar of Our Lady of Rosary Church at Eranelloor established in 1861. She embraced death when her family was set to celebrate her 113th birthday in this coming May. ‘Express’ had published a story on Kunjannam, the oldest ever known woman in the country. Eleventh daughter of her parents, Kunjannam was not married-off as she lost her father and mother in a gap of 41 days when she was a teen. The funeral will be held at Parannoor church cemetery on Wednesday.

Germanwings plane black box found as mystery surrounds Alps crash

Debris from the Germanwings Airbus A320 at the crash site in the French Alps Tuesday

French air investigators are urgently examining a black box cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from a Germanwings Airbus A-320 to try to solve the mystery of why the aircraft crashed into a mountain in the southern Alps, killing all 150 people on board.

Investigators are puzzled as to why the crew did not send out a mayday or distress signal as flight U49525 rapidly lost altitude for eight minutes, or why the pilot did not change course to avoid smashing into a rocky ravine at around 430mph (700kmh).

In the last 10 minutes of the flight there was total radio silence from the crew of the Barcelona–Düsseldorf flight operated by Lufthansa’s low-cost subsidiary.

Tuesday’s crash happened around 11am local time in calm weather. Unverified information from plane-tracking websites appeared to rule out an explosion or a mid-air stall, both of which would cause a much faster descent. Experts said planes such as the Airbus would be able to glide for some distance in the case of total engine failure.

David Learmount, the operations and safety editor of Flightglobal, said on Twitter: “German-operated A320s do not crash in the cruise. Not these days. This one is weird.”


A helicopter flies over the crash scene where debris from the Germanwings A-320 plane can be seen. Photograph: Securite Civile/REX
The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, said a helicopter crew had landed near the crash site and found no survivors. Aerial photos showed the plane was, in the words of one official, “pulverised”. The largest piece of wreckage was little more than the size of a small car.

As the CVR was being analysed, Pierre-Henri Brandet, a spokesman for the French interior ministry in Seyne-les-Alpes, said the search for bodies and a second black box on the isolated, rocky site had been called off for the evening and would resume at dawn.

Related: Germanwings jet crashed after eight-minute unexplained descent - live updates

Among the dead passengers were two babies, and 16 German school pupils returning from an exchange trip to Spain with their two teachers.

A Spanish woman believed to be living in Manchester and her baby son were understood to be among those on board.

The British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said it was ”likely that there were some British nationals” on board the flight and that checks on passenger information were still being completed.

“This is a tragic incident for those involved and their families, I send my deepest condolences to those who have lost family or friends.

“I don’t want to speculate on numbers of British nationals involved until we have completed our checks on all the passenger information. However, based on the information available to us, it is sadly likely that there were some British nationals on board the flight. We are providing consular assistance and will give further help as more information becomes available.”

Christophe Castaner, a Socialist party MP in France, was one of the first to fly over the barren high altitude crash site and described a scene of horror. “It’s a sharp ridge and steep slope that is difficult to access. We have seen the catastrophe and terrible things. It was clear the victims were there in the midst of the destroyed aircraft. “We saw women, men, children, and babies. Yes, we saw babies,” the visibly shocked Castaner told journalists.

He told BFMTV that they flew over the crash site twice before they realised that small white patches were not snow, but remnants of the plane. Castaner said: “Our hope was to find people who could be saved. It disappeared when we saw the state of the plane.”

Jean-Louis Bietrix, a mountain guide who accompanied the first emergency services up the mountain, said there was nothing left of the plane. “There’s debris, but you have to look closely to see things. It’s like the plane has totally disappeared,” he said.

The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said the crash site was “a picture of horror. The grief of the families and friends is immeasurable. We must now stand together. We are united in our great grief.”

A screengrab from an AFP TV video shows smoke rising from the crash site. Photograph: Denis Bois/AFP/Getty Images
The crash site can only be accessed after a three-hour walk from the nearest road.

It is the worst air accident in mainland France in decades. In 1974, 345 people were killed when a Turkish Airlines DC10 crashed near Paris. In 2000 an Air France Concorde crashed shortly after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris in July 2000, killing all 100 German passengers, nine crew and four people on the ground.

Valls said “no hypothesis” could be ruled out about the cause of the tragedy.

Bernard Cazeneuve, the interior minister, said the black box had been sent to the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA), the French air accident investigation authority, for “immediate examination”. He added that the crash zone had been secured and that a criminal investigation team would arrive to collect evidence on Wednesday.

Related: Path of Germanwings flight 4U9525 - interactive

The dead, including two pilots and four cabin crew, are believed to include 45 Spanish and 67 German nationals. The French president, François Hollande, also spoke of a Turkish national among the victims.

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, who plans to travel to the crash site on Wednesday, said the crash had plunged Germany, France and Spain into “deep mourning”.

One witness, Sebastien Giroux, said he saw the plane flying very low in the southern Alps near Digne-les-Bains, near where it crashed.

“There was no smoke or particular sound or sign of anything wrong, but at the altitude it was flying it was clearly not going to make it over the mountains,” he told BFM-TV. “I didn’t see anything wrong with the plane, but it was too low.”

The plane had taken off from Barcelona at 10.01am local time. It was just under halfway through its journey to Düsseldorf, where it had been expected to land at 11.55am, when it began to lose altitude.

The French aviation regulatory authority (DGAC) said the aircraft did not issue a distress call, as initially reported, but that its sudden drop in altitude had led air traffic controllers to implement the “distress phase”. This is the third and most serious of three alerts used to help identify and coordinate rescue efforts when a plane is thought to be in difficulty.

Related: Germanwings plane crash: what we know

Thomas Winkelmann, chief executive of Germanwings, told a press conference: “At 10.35am the plane had reached 38,000 feet, but after 10 minutes it was in downfall and was losing altitude. That lasted eight minutes. The contact with the aircraft with French radar was lost at 10.53am at which point the plane was around 6,000ft. The plane then crashed.”

Thomas Winkelmann, Germanwings chief executive, on the plane’s final descent
Afterwards, there was conflicting information over the timings. The flight tracking website FlightRadar24 claimed the plane started dropping at 10.31am, fell 31,000ft in nine minutes and vanished off the radar at 10.40am.

Aviation experts questioned Winkelmann’s suggestion the plane had stalled, saying that, while its descent was rapid, the crew appeared to have some control until shortly before the crash.

Rescue helicopters located the wreckage soon afterwards in the grey, stony cleft of a mountain range high in the southern French Alps, between Digne-les-Bains and Barcelonnette.

Related: Emergency response to Germanwings plane crash – in pictures

Hundreds of gendarmes, firefighters and emergency search and rescue teams, as well as 10 helicopters and a military aircraft, were dispatched to the crash site. The French government set up an emergency centre.

Pierre Polizzi, the owner of a campsite near where the plane crashed, said he heard the plane making strange noises shortly before it disappeared. “I heard a series of loud noises in the air. There are often fighter jets flying over, so I thought it sounded just like that. I looked outside, but I couldn’t see any fighter planes,” Polizzi told the Associated Press. “The noise I heard was long, like eight seconds, as if the plane was going more slowly than military plane speed. There was another long noise after about 30 seconds.”

Polizzi said the plane crashed around 3-11 miles (5-8km) north of his camp. “It’s going to be very difficult to get there. The mountain is snowy and very hostile.”

Hollande said: “I would like to send all our solidarity to the family of the victims.” He said he was in regular communication with Merkel and King Felipe VI of Spain, who was visiting the Elysée Palace in Paris at the time of the crash, but cut short his state visit after the news broke.

“It’s a new air tragedy; we must know all the causes. We are in mourning because this accident happened on our territory,” Hollande said.

The Airbus A-320-211 named “Mannheim” with the registration D-AIPX, was at the end of its commercial flying life, according to La Provence newspaper. Its first flight was on 29 November 1990 and it had been flown commercially by Lufthansa/Germanwings since 1991.

The Germanwings chief said: “The last checkup for the plane was in March at Düsseldorf by our technical teams. The last major checkup laid down by Airbus procedure was in summer 2013.” He said the captain of the plane had more than 10 years’ experience with Lufthansa and Germanwings, and 6,000 hours of flight on the Airbus.

Some Germanwings crews asked not to fly after the crash “for personal reasons”, and some flights yesterday were cancelled.

A spokesperson for the British prime minister, David Cameron, said: “He has been informed of this tragic news of the aircraft that has been lost over southern France and he would wish to express how his thoughts are very much with the families and friends of all of those who were on that flight.

“If there is any assistance or role that UK air accident investigators can play in response to this then of course the French and German forces will have our full support and engagement on that.”

Source Guardian